Puffballs ..... Basidiomycota - Gasterromycetes
 Calvatia cyathiformis
Harvey Kirsch DigiPixels_Image 2005
The Puffball is a rather interesting fungi. They come in many shapes and sizes.
Calvatia gigantea is the largest. ( 50cm wide ) The Tumbling Puffball ( Bovista plumbea ) is not un-common.
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Some puffballs; like Calvatia gigantea; are edible; but others are poisonous; so don't be foolish and take chances on being right. The puffball on the left maybe an example of Calvatia cyathiformis which I found on a grassy hillside in High Park. Calvatia cyathiformis is edible only when young. Puffballs spread their spores in a puff of spores to be spread by the wind. The puff of spores is also triggered by rain or dew drops.
Remember unless you are an expert on fungi, do not harvest any wild mushrooms for food, the dangers are just too great. |